Developing the practice and theory of information literacy education: the role of action research
Philippa Levy
University of Sheffield
UK
Paper: 1/2 hour
Empowerment, Enhancement, Enrichment
Information literacy education is an evolving and increasingly dynamic area of practice in higher education in the UK and elsewhere. For example, new or reformulated information literacy frameworks and competency models are being applied, and new on-line approaches to educational 'delivery' are being adopted. There is a noticeable increase of interest amongst commentators in questions of pedagogy, and a growing critique of traditional approaches to information skills training and user education (e.g., Brophy, 2001; Johnston and Webber, 2003). Constructivist and relational perspectives on learning and teaching are emerging as points of reference for the development of good practice (e.g., Appleton, 2000; Bruce, 2001; Levy, 2000). However, as noted by a number of presenters at the first International Conference on IT and Information Literacy in Glasgow, 2002 (e.g., Martin, 2002), at present the information literacy community lacks a shared body of educational knowledge, validated by research and theory, with which to guide the further development of new practice in the area.
Action research (e.g., Carr and Kemmis, 1986; Zeichner, 2001) offers one approach to developing such a body of knowledge. This is a well-established, practice-based approach to evaluating, theorising and improving educational practice, although it is not uncontroversial and it takes a variety of forms. Its use has begun to be reported in the context of information literacy education (e.g., Johnston and Webber, 1999; Webber and Johnston, 2001) but as yet there has been relatively little discussion of how it is being, or might be, applied productively within the field. This paper aims, therefore, to contribute to developing such a discussion, as well as to provide some practical pointers to carrying out this type of research. It starts by reviewing the use of action research within information literacy education to date and then moves on to examine its potential role in relation to both practice and theory development in the field. With reference to the wider action research literature and previous work by the author (Levy, 2003) it offers a discussion of the purposes and methods of the approach, identifies different forms of action research and raises some issues that arise in the context of carrying out action research from a constructivist perspective.
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